The Siamese Twin Mystery: 1933 (Ellery Queen Mysteries)

Trapped on a burning mountain, the Queens take refuge with a killer.

Dashing detective Ellery Queen and his father are driving over the pothole-scarred Arrow Mountain Road when they come face to face with a wall of flame. They tear back in the other direction, fire at their fenders, and finally find safety in a clearing, at the home of Dr. Xavier, a renowned surgeon. He is a genial man, but his distracted, mysterious smile conceals dark secrets. Passing through one of the drafty hallways, Ellery's father is startled by a pair of eyes burning in the darkness-the eyes of a monster. Could they be trapped on some kind of mountain of Dr. Moreau? Dr. Xavier introduces them to the rest of his household, including his wife, brother, and medical assistant. Everyone's welcoming, but they also seem anxious and cagey. When the good doctor is found shot to death in his study, Queen realizes that he and his father have more to fear than a pair of sinister eyes. The Queens might have escaped the forest fire, but they have leapt into a situation that's every bit as hot.

Ellery Queen is a pseudonym used by two American cousins from Brooklyn-Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay (1905-1982), and Manford (Emanuel) Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee (1905-1971)-to write detective fiction. In a successful series of novels that covered forty-two years, Ellery Queen served as both the authors' name and that of the detective-hero. The cousins also cofounded and directed Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, one of the most influential English crime-fiction magazines of the twentieth century. They were given the Grand Master Award for achievements in the field of the mystery story by the Mystery Writers of America in 1961.